Speakers

We’ve lined up a diverse panel of speakers and workshop presenters including:

Bruce Aidells

Bruce Aidells
Chef/Cookbook author

Session: Great Goat!

Bruce Aidells is the founder and former owner of the Aidells gourmet sausage empire and is an expert in all things meat. He’s written 11 cookbooks, including The Complete Meat Cookbook and the Complete Pork Book, both of which were nomimated for a James Beard Award; in addition, his recipes have appeared in over 30 other cookbooks including The Joy of Cooking. He is a contributor at Bon Appétit Magazine, Eating Well Magazine, Fine Cooking, Food and Wine, and Cooking Light Magazines.

Reed Anderson’s family has been raising lamb on the free-range pastures and rolling foothills of Willamette Valley for five generations. Anderson Ranch lambs thrive in open fields with fresh air and lots of room to graze. They eat only grasses and are fed no by-products, antibiotics or growth hormones. Anderson Ranch markets up to 15,000 lambs each year primarily to area chefs who seek local, homegrown quality lamb. Reed currently represents sheep producers on the board of directors for the American Lamb Board.

Jennifer has been with Fine Cooking magazine since 2000 when she started out as an assistant editor. After several years, she worked as the magazine’s senior food editor and test kitchen magazine; in 2011 she was promoted to her present position as editor.

Prior to her work in publishing, she worked at several DC-area restaurant kitchens. After graduating with high honors from the Culinary Institute of America in 1997, she was asked to stay on at the CIA to help produce the Institute’s cookbooks. Over the next three years, she worked as an editor and writer on seven of the Institute’s new titles, including its flagship cooking text, The Professional Chef.

Session: Do Chefs Have a Responsibility to Advocate for a More Sustainable Food System?

Greg Atkinson

Greg is the chef and proprietor of Restaurant Marché on Bainbridge Island. He is also a James Beard Award winning journalist and the author of six cookbooks including At the Kitchen Table, West Coast Cooking and Entertaining in the Northwest Style.

Atkinson’s experience includes a six-year stint as Executive Chef at Seattle’s acclaimed Canlis restaurant, a three-year tour of duty as Chef Instructor at Seattle Culinary Academy, and twenty years as a contributing editor to Food Arts and a regular contributor to The Seattle Times. He has served as host of the annual KCTS Chefs for Seattle’s PBS station and has been featured on “Chefs A’Field and “Gourmet’s Adventures with Ruth.” His food commentary can also be heard intermittently on Seattle’s NPR affiliate KUOW, 94.9 FM.

Jane Black is a food writer who covers food politics, trends and sustainability issues. She is the Smarter Food columnist for the Washington Post. Her work also appears in the New York Times,New York magazine, the Atlantic.com, and Slate. She is currently at work with her husband on a book about one town in West Virginia’s struggle to change the way it eats and whether the food revolution can cross geographical, cultural and class boundaries.

Mark is the Executive Chef of Copperleaf Restaurant at Cedarbrook Lodge, a seventeen acre retreat located a few miles south of Seattle, Washington. In 2011, Gayot.com the national acclaimed rating guide named Copperleaf as one of the top ten new restaurants in the United States. Seattle Magazine also named Copperleaf Restaurant the “Best New Restaurant” to open in 2011 and The Daily Green named Copperleaf as one of the best new sustainable restaurants in the United States.

After graduating from the Phoenix Art Institute with a Culinary Arts degree, Mark started his career on Martha’s Vineyard where he helped developed the renowned seafood restaurant, Opus. In 2004, he moved to Napa Valley and worked at the renowned French Laundry Restaurant where he came to understand the principals of fresh and sustainable cuisine.

Justin is the Director of Operations for FishChoice.com, a B2B sustainable seafood sourcing website. Justin has nearly 15 years of combined experience in social science, marketing, and project management within the seafood, tourism, technology and consumer products industries. Justin holds a B.S. degree in Marketing from the University of Utah and a Master of Marine Affairs degree from the University of Washington. Prior to FishChoice.com, Justin worked for the Marine Stewardship Council.

Geoff comes to MSC with more than 20 years experience launching and growing enterprises in the for-profit and non-profit sectors worldwide. He has held executive and leadership roles with TravelCLICK, McDonalds, iExplore, and Conservation International. In these positions he has managed projects and teams in a range of fields including environmental conservation, clean technology, online travel and hospitality, food, and strategy consulting; and worked closely with large international brands, as well as small entrepreneurs and communities. Geoff holds his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management; BA from Tufts University; and speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

Sheila Bowman is the Manager of Culinary and Strategic Initiatives for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program. Trained as a marine scientist and passionate about conservation, Sheila has been with the Monterey Bay Aquarium for over 20 years. Her current work focuses on developing strategies to deepen the connection with sustainable seafood for existing audiences and widening the program’s exposure to new audiences in the culinary field. Now in its twelfth year, Seafood Watch is the nation’s leading program working to protect ocean ecosystems by empowering consumers and businesses to purchase seafood from fisheries and fish farms that minimize their environmental impacts. Seafood Watch has distributed over 40 million of their popular pocket guides and downloaded over one million of their convenient Smartphone applications, making it easy for everyone to choose ocean-friendly seafood.

As owner of The West Coast Kitchen LLC, Roy is providing counsel to a variety of groups on sustainable food concepts. He is leading composting and water reclamation programs for on-site “chef’s gardens,” and directing a mycelium inoculation project at Cedarbrook Lodge that will serve as a natural water purification system for the 10 acres of restored wetlands that support the lodge’s dining program. For Cedarbrook, the work is part of the lodge’s broader mission to become a model of sustainability in the region, highlighting how sustainable practices can enrich our communities as well as the guest experience.

Roy is a graduate of La Cordon Rouge Culinary School in Sausalito, California and has worked in four and five-star restaurants in the United States and Europe. He is co-author of Wine Country Chefs Table published by Globe Pequot Press.

Cory is a fourth-generation cattle rancher from Wallowa, Oregon, where her family has lived since 1913. After graduating from Stanford with a degree in environmental policy and working on Capitol Hill and in Los Angeles, Cory returned to the ranch in 2003. Recognizing that keeping the family business alive depended on restoring it to a pasture-based production model, Cory began raising and finishing registered Angus and Hereford cattle purely on grass and selling the beef to individuals and families in Portland and Eastern Oregon.

Nearly a decade later, Cory and her husband, David Flynn, continue to build on their commitment to sustainable food production by partnering with other family ranches. Together they supply individuals, restaurants, universities and hospitals throughout the Pacific Northwest with Food Alliance certified grassfed beef.Sean CoyneHead Baker, Grand Central Bakery, Portland
Website: http://www.grandcentralbakery.com

Sean brought his considerable baking experience to the Northwest last summer after more than 15 years in New York, where he studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and developed a four-star bread program for Thomas Keller at Per Se, Bouchon Bakery and The French Laundry. He has also worked as a private chef, bakery and restaurant consultant, and pastry chef and cook at Gramercy Tavern with Tom Colicchio. As Grand Central’s head baker in Portland, he is developing a line of seasonal hearth breads and savory snack breads. When he’s not baking, you’ll find him reveling in Oregon’s produce, practicing yoga and enjoying his back yard and free ample parking.

Session: Crowd-funding in the Kitchen: Non-Traditional Financing and Funding for Your Food-Related Project

Tim Crosby, Director of Slow Money NW, works on logistics, policy, and financing of the Pacific Northwest’s regional food economy. Current priorities include expanding Slow Money NW’s new Farmer Reserve Fund, building out a strategic plan for regional food system growth, and increasing deal flow of business needs identified in that strategy. Previously Tim coordinated the development of the Puget Sound Food Network, focusing on increasing transactions between wholesale buyers and sellers, and helped coordinate the development of the Good Food Coalition, a multi-issue coalition focused on state food policy. He is current board chair of the WA Sustainable Food and Farming Network. Tim holds an MBA in Sustainable Business from Bainbridge Graduate Institute.

A native of England by way of Iowa, Mel started her baking career in Portland with Grand Central Bakery and quickly moved through the ranks to become head baker for its Multnomah location in 1997. After a stint in Seattle at Macrina Bakery as head baker, she returned to Grand Central Portland where she spent 10 years developing delicious breads, building hearth ovens and masterminding the highly technical switch from mass-market flour to locally produced Shepherd’s Grain and Camas Country Mill flours. Today Mel is back in Seattle at the helm at Grand Central’s Seattle production facility. In her free time you will find Mel cruising Alki on her long skate board, walking her Dachshunds and dreaming of delicious food to pair with Northwest beers.

Piper is an avid baker and cook who inherited her ease in the kitchen from her mother, Grand Central Bakery founder, Gwyneth Bassetti. Piper is the driving force behind the company’s commitment to sourcing excellent local ingredients. She and her team work with a range of producers, from small row crop vegetable farms in the Willamette Valley to wheat farmers with thousands of acres in the Palouse Hills, with the aim of bringing the best local ingredients to a wide audience.

Piper received training in pastry at the National Baking Institute, where she completed the Viennoiserie program. She is a member of the Chefs Collaborative, The Bread Bakers Guild of America, Slow Food, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and currently she is serving on the national board for Chefs Collaborative.

Session: Business Model Workshop: Managing the Cost of High-Quality Ingredients

George’s passion for sustainability and seasonality comes from years spent as Manager of Peter Hoffman’s Savoy of New York and Nora Pouillon’s Restaurant Nora of Washington, DC, both award-winning national landmarks of local and organic eating. He has served as Operations Consultant for Farm 255 for the past year, and prior to Farm Burger & Farm 255 he was part of the Concentrics Restaurants management team, acting as Director of Operations of both Room and Lobby restaurants of the TWELVE hotels and the opening GM of TROIS. Before moving his family to Atlanta, Frangos was the owner/operator of acclaimed destination restaurant Victory 96 State Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In addition to Savoy, his New York days included three years as Restaurant Manager of Eric and Bruce Bromberg’s Blue Ribbon Bakery.

Cheryl Fuller

Cheryl FullerFresh Seafood Merchandiser
Halperns’ Steak & Seafood

Session: Marine Stewardship Council: Building Trust in Certification

Cheryl has been associated with the seafood business her entire life. She grew up on the coast of South Carolina where friends and family were commercial fishermen, and she went on to own a popular French restaurant and neighborhood bar in Charleston. After Hurricane Hugo, Cheryl relocated to Atlanta where she served for 11 years as the Director of Operations for a multi-unit restaurant group. When the group was sold, it gave Cheryl an opportunity to return to her passion, seafood. For the past two decades she has been an advocate for the men and women who work tirelessly every day to responsibly harvest seafood and for committed sustainability leaders like Halperns’ Steak & Seafood, where she is beginning her fifth year of service. Cheryl proudly calls Halperns’ Steak & Seafood the World Series of Fish. She will share the direct experience of Halperns’ participating in the MSC program “as a company but also as individuals doing the right thing for our oceans and our future generations.”

Chef Garcia is one of the pioneering chefs who helped launch a new initiative along with a select number of local New England fisherman called “Trace & Trust”. This initiative is growing in popularity and is ensuring that chefs serve only the freshest, highest quality, locally sourced and responsibly caught seafood.

In 2011 he was named the Local Leader for the Greater Boston area Chefs Collaborative chapter, and has been involved with charities that support children, especially Share Our Strength and the Rodman Ride for Kids.

Paul Greenberg is the James Beard award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food. He has been both a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow and a Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellow and writes and lectures widely on seafood, the ocean and sustainability.

A regular contributor to the New York Times he is currently at work on The Fish Next Door, a book about the fight to bring back local seafood. Electronically present at www.fourfish.org, facebook.com/fourfish, @4fishgreenberg.

Andrew joined the Animal Welfare Approved program in April 2008 as program director where he has spearheaded the program’s unprecedented growth, increasing the number of approved farms tenfold, promoting farm viability for humane livestock farmers and growing market strength. The Animal Welfare Approved standards have been rated “most stringent” in both 2008 and 2009 by the World Society for the Protection of Animals. Andrew also works with restaurants groups and retailers to increase the availability of Animal Welfare Approved meat, dairy and eggs in traditional retail settings. Andrew is currently part of the Texas State Board of Agriculture’s organic advisory board and a member of the American Association of Agricultural scientists.

Previously, he was the senior global animal compassionate product procurement and development specialist for Whole Foods Market, leading the team that designed and launched the company’s five-step welfare program in the United Kingdom.

From a truly agricultural background, Andrew, with his wife and children, pioneered the world’s first organic poultry hatchery for chickens. The Gunther family also managed the production for the largest independent organic chicken producer in the United Kingdom.

The Harris family has raised cattle on the same Georgia farm since 1866. Will now runs the farm, and has returned the operation to the vertically integrated and diversified grassfed production model that his great-grandfather utilized.

In 1995 Will began transitioning his monoculture operation into the vertically-integrated pastured livestock farm that it is today. Today cattle, sheep, chickens, and turkeys are rotated through the pastures in the Serengeti Plains Rotational Grazing Model. In 2007, Will built a USDA-inspected, Zero-waste, red meat abattoir on the farm. It is state of the art, one of only two in the country, and is operating at full capacity of 140 head per week. In 2011 Will built a USDA-inspected Zero waste poultry abattoir on the farm. It is now processing 5000 birds per week. No other farm in the U.S.A. has its own both USDA inspected red meat plant and USDA inspected poultry processing plant.

Session: Crowd-funding in the Kitchen: Non-traditional Financing and Funding for Your Food-Related Project

Gregory Heller has been advising organizations on the use of cutting edge technologies for over a decade. Since 2010 he’s volunteered for Seattle Chefs Collaborative, and served on the board as the chair of the communications committee since 2011. Technology and Food have long been his dual passions. Earlier this year, Gregory worked with Chef John Sundstrom and others on a crowd-funded trans-media cookbook project. Gregory writes about and photographs food and travel at HungrySeattle.com and on Twitter @HungrySeattle.

Session: Business Model Workshop: Managing the Cost of High-Quality Ingredients

Maria Hines

Winner of the 2009 James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest, Maria Hines has been turning heads and palates on the national culinary scene since she took the helm at Earth & Ocean in 2003. In 2005, she was named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s 10 Best New Chefs. In September 2006 Maria opened her own restaurant, Tilth, serving New American cuisine. Featuring only ingredients from local farmers, Tilth remains among the top culinary destinations in the region. In 2008, the New York Times named Tilth one of the top-10 best new restaurants in the country. She appeared on the Food Network: Iron Chef America and won the “Battle of Pacific Cod” in 2010.

In early 2011 Maria opened her second restaurant, Golden Beetle, featuring Mediterranean cuisine. Her dedication to locally organic is unwavering and both of her restaurants are certified organic. Maria has served as president of Seattle Chefs Collaborative, a committee member for National Chefs Collaborative, and is currently a board member of the PCC Farmland Trust and founding member of Seattle Restaurant Week.

Dan is an author, small-scale farmer, and musician. For nearly 20 years he’s been writing articles, essays, and books including CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories; Food Fight: The Citizen’s Guide to a Food and Farm Bill; Paper or Plastic: Searching for Solutions to an Overpackaged World; Farming with the Wild: Enhancing Biodiversity on Farms and Ranches; and Building with Vision: Optimizing and Finding Alternatives to Wood. His books have gained national attention with coverage in the Atlantic Monthly, San Francisco Chronicle, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune. He has testified before Congress and spoken at numerous conferences, corporate and government offices, and college campuses.

Dan is the president/co-founder of Watershed Media, a non-profit publishing house based in Healdsburg, California. He is also the president and a co-founder of the Wild Farm Alliance, a ten-year-old national organization working to promote agriculture systems that support and accommodate wild nature.

Rowan Jacobsen is the James Beard Award-winning author of A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Oyster Eating in North America, Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis, and The Living Shore, about our ancient connection to estuaries and their potential to heal the oceans. He has written for the New York Times,Newsweek, Harper’s, Outside, Eating Well,Forbes, Popular Science, and others, and his work has been anthologized in The Best American Science and Nature Writing and Best Food Writing collections. Whether visiting endangered oystermen in Louisiana or cacao-gathering tribes in the Bolivian Amazon, his subject is how to maintain a sense of place in a world of increasing placelessness.

In 1995, Christine opened her own restaurant, Flying Fish. Her powerful relationships with regional fishermen, as well as her use of global spices and local ingredients to create signature dishes, continue to bring her national attention as Seattle’s seafood expert.

Christine began her career in 1978, apprenticing at the Four Seasons in New York City. In the ten years that followed, she opened three restaurants where she developed the concept and design of each operation. During the 1980s, Christine spent a year traveling extensively throughout the United States and Asia, spending time in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia before relocating to Seattle where she had a vision to combine her culinary travels with a passion for the products of the Pacific Northwest.

She has received many accolades and press coverage for her unwavering dedication to using local products. Flying Fish received a Four-Star rating by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the James Beard Foundation recognized her as the Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest/Hawaii in 1999.

As founder and president of FoodEx, a social venture based in Boston, Kemp is pioneering a solution to the vexing problem of how to efficiently and affordably get fresh food from the field, pasture or ocean into kitchens without an army of farmers driving pick-ups all over the foodshed. JD’s career blends food industry experience with logistics optimization savvy, technological entrepreneurship and a keen eye for sustainability. His ultimate goal is to create a regionally-based food distribution system for every foodshed in the US.

Dolan graduated from San Francisco’s California Culinary Academy and has worked with Walter Pisano of Seattle’s Tulio Ristorante; Marsha Polk-Townsend in San Francisco and most recently Kenny Giambalvo at Bluehour in Portland. “People have always been good to me, have shown me a little more in each position I’ve taken, from making fresh mozzarella with Walter to learning French techniques from Kenny. I learned cooking, but I also learned hospitality and warmth for guests. You’re inviting them into your home for a meal.”

Justin is CEO of SOTE Ranchers Cooperative, the first Range Cattle Cooperative in the United States; the organization helps to create a transparent chain of supply and demand in the beef industry.

Prior to SOTE, Justin was a cofounder of Global Arena, a strategic consulting and global management solution company, as well as founder of Chrispa Group, an import company that works with organic and natural food producers in Latin America. Through the efforts of both these organizations, he has spent the last 10-plus years helping companies hone their branding and marketing messages.

Denby Lloyd

Denby Lloyd
Principal
Alaska Resource Consultancy

Session: Five Fish: The Diversity of Alaskan Salmon

Denby Lloyd has over thirty years of fisheries management experience. A graduate of the University of Alaska with a B.S. degree in Biological Sciences and a M.S. in Biological Oceanography, Denby has spent his career working in Alaska. His many positions include former Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game and past member of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. Lloyd is currently the Principal at Alaska Resource Consultancy.

Evan is a James Beard semi-finalist for Best Chef, Northeast. He is actively involved and sits on the boards of Chefs Collaborative, Slow Food Seacoast ,and the Heirloom Harvest Project, an initiative to join farmers, chefs and educators to identify and restore a food system native to the greater New Hampshire Seacoast.

Amanda Oborne is director of FoodHub, a nationally-recognized website that helps chefs find and connect with their local farmers, ranchers, fishermen and craft producers. She’s twice been invited to the White House, preached the gospel of local food to the suits at the USDA, and toured with the Good Food Awards Roadshow. Amanda shares JD Kemp’s passion for building an effective local food distribution system, knowing that it’s the key to kicking the commodity habit.

Mark has built Fortune’s marketing department, which provides invaluable seafood and sustainability training to Fortune customers. Palicki also works to ensure Fortune Fish Company is on the forefront of safety, sanitation and sustainability in the industry and regularly attends industry conferences worldwide to accomplish this goal.

Mark is a National Fisheries Institute (NFI) Future Leader and a well-respected authority on sustainability and traceability in the seafood industry. Mark brings over 10 years of restaurant experience to Fortune Fish having worked as an Executive Chef, General Manager and Seafood Buyer for a number of esteemed properties around the country.

Session: Crowd-funding in the Kitchen: Non-traditional Financing and Funding for Your Food-Related Project

Hailing from the Muscadet region of France, Thierry Rautureau is the James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of Rover’s and Luc restaurants in Seattle. At 14, Rautureau began a cooking apprenticeship in Anjou, France and continued his training for the next six years in Normandy, the French Alps, and the Pays Basque. In the United States, he worked with Jean Claude Poilevey at La Fontaine in Chicago and at The Regency Club for Joachim Splichal and The Seven Street Bistro with Laurent Quenioux, both in Los Angeles. In the 1980s he moved to Seattle and opened Rover’s; twenty-three years later he opened Luc, a French-American café and bar named after his father, Luc Rautureau.

Ruth Reichl is a writer and editor who was the Editor in Chief of Gourmet Magazine for ten years until its closing in 2009. Before that she was the restaurant critic of the The New York Times, (1993-1999), and both the restaurant critic and food editor of the Los Angeles Times (1984-1993). As co-owner and cook of the collective restaurant The Swallow from 1974 to 1977, she played a part in the culinary revolution that took place in Berkeley, California.

Ms. Reichl hosted Eating Out Loud, three specials on Food Network, covering New York (2002), San Francisco (2003), and Miami (2003). She is a regular host with Leonard Lopate for a live monthly food show on WNYC radio in New York.

Ms. Reichl has been honored with 6 James Beard Awards (one for magazine feature writing and one for multimedia food journalism in 2009; two for restaurant criticism, in 1996 and 1998; one for journalism, in 1994; and Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America, 1984) and with numerous awards from the Association of American Food Journalists.

Session: Business Model Workshop: Managing the Cost of High-Quality Ingredients

Andrea was named one of “15 Green Chefs” on Grist’s international list, and has written for Saveur, Domino, Fine Cooking,Gourmet.com and the News and Observer. She serves on the boards of the Center of Environmental Farming Systems and Chefs Collaborative. Reusing is the 2011 winner of the James Beard award for Best Chef: Southeast and the author of Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes.

In his 45 years in the restaurant industry Dan Rosenthal has opened and operated over 40 restaurants around the country. He currently operates 7 Chicago restaurants including Trattoria No.10, 5 Sopraffina Marketcaffès and Poag Mahone’s Carvery and Ale House. All 7 restaurants serve exclusively local beef, pork, chicken and turkey, all of which have never, ever been administered antibiotics. In 2007 he founded the Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition which last year had a membership of over 300 restaurant and 150 affiliated business members. The Coalition’s original mission of bringing sustainable products and services to restaurants at affordable prices has grown to encompass educational initiatives, legislative advocacy and the creation of the GUARANTEED GREEN certification program for restaurants.

Rosenthal has been recognized for his environmental efforts with numerous awards and has spoken on the subject of sustainability in the foodservice industry at schools, conferences and conventions nationwide.

National Geographic Fellow and Washington, D.C. chef Barton Seaver is an influential voice in the culinary world because of his take on seafood and sustainability. In his first book, For Cod and Country, Seaver introduces an entirely new kind of casual cooking featuring seafood that hasn’t been overfished or harvested using destructive methods.

In early 2010, Seaver received a fellowship from the National Geographic Society to increase awareness of ocean issues and inspire action. He has developed a list of ocean friendly substitutes for popular yet depleted seafood species, and co-created the Seafood Decision Guide to help consumers evaluate seafood based on health and environmental factors. Currently, he hosts the National Geographic Web series Cook-Wise, where he tells the stories of the fishermen, farmers, and scientists working to bring more sustainable food to the table.

Becky is a private chef, cooking teacher and food humorist. She has had stints at La Medusa and La Spiga, spent three years at the internationally-acclaimed restaurant, The Herbfarm in Woodinville, Washington, and currently teaches cooking for PCC Natural Markets and Bastyr University. In 2004, she started her private chef business, Cornucopia, and in January 2006, she founded the local foods website, Seasonal Cornucopia.

For her ocean conservation work with consumers, Becky received the prestigious Seafood Ambassador Award from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program in 2012.

She is a co-author of The Washington Local and Seasonal Cookbook, columnist for Edible Seattle Magazine, and runs the colorful blog Chef Reinvented. Good Fish,an NPR notable cookbook and IACP finalist, is Selengut’s second book.

Session: Do Chefs Have a Responsibility to Advocate for a More Sustainable Food System?

Kim Severson was appointed the Atlanta bureau chief for the The New York Times in 2010. Prior, she was a dining writer for The New York Times for six years. She also spent six years writing about cooking and the culture of food for the San Francisco Chronicle. Before that, she had a seven-year stint as an editor and reporter at The Anchorage Daily News in Alaska. She has also covered crime, education, social services and government for daily newspapers on the West Coast.

She has won several regional and national awards for news and feature writing, including the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for her work on childhood obesity in 2002 and four James Beard awards for food writing. Her memoir, Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life, came out in 2010; she has also written The New Alaska Cookbook and The Trans Fat Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet.

Session: Crowd-funding in the Kitchen: Non-traditional Financing and Funding for Your Food-Related Project

Jared Stoneberg

Jared is a former chef; he spent time working in the kitchen at Lark restaurant in Seattle. Jared is leading the production of the Lark Cookbook – a self-published app for both Apple and Android platforms – from initial conception, Kickstarter rewards planning, app development and print production.

In addition, Jared is a partner in Number 10 Web Company where he builds websites and is fascinated by the expanding and ever-changing landscape of content delivery.

John is widely experienced in the industry having worked in all aspects of the business – from buying live animals to delivering finished product to grocery stores. Prior to joining Niman Ranch in 2006, he managed beef packing houses, started CAB Prime in the mid-90’s, founded the first CAB prime restaurant in America and managed a co-op of Illinois and Missouri-based family farmers. While at the co-op, Tarpoff found his passion supporting traditional farming methods and humanely-raised animals which eventually led him to Niman Ranch. His expertise includes genetics, nutrition and sustainable agriculture.

A third-generation meat cutter, Kari was introduced to the trade by her father at Underly’s Market, a butcher shop and ice cream parlor in Lydick, Indiana. She has over 20 years of experience as a marketer, educator, master butcher and award-winning author.

Session: Business Model Workshop: Managing the Cost of High-Quality Ingredients

Derek opened Nicks on Broadway when he was 24 years old. From its modest 18-seat, breakfast-only beginnings to its current 40-seat, full-service version, Nicks has always focused on seasonally inspired, locally sourced food and service. He developed and fostered strong relationships with local growers and producers, in addition to setting up herb and vegetable gardens on the premises and planting fruit trees in his nearby yard. Whatever he can’t produce or grow at Nicks, Wagner tries to source carefully, locally and thoughtfully. He aims for zero waste by drying, curing, pickling and making stocks, sauces, extracts and powders out of all trim, and composting the rest for the following year’s gardens. Derek has been nominated for the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Award twice, and has been featured on the Food Network and in Food & Wine, Esquire, the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the London Independent. Nicks on Broadway was also recently named “One of the World’s Best Restaurants” by Fodor’s Travel Guide.

Matt Weingarten

Matt Weingarten
Culinary Director, Unique Solutions, Sodexo

Session: Business Model Workshop: Managing the Cost of High-Quality Ingredients

A longtime advocate of sustainability, Matt brings a strong sense of what he champions to his position at Sodexo. Previously he was the executive chef at Inside Park at St. Barts, chef de cuisine at Peter Hoffman’s Savoy restaurant in New York. Working under the tutelage of one of the country’s forerunners of “locovorism”, seasonal integrity and provenance of the ingredient, Weingarten was greatly influenced by how our choices not only affect our lives in the kitchen, but how they are knitted together into all areas of sustainability for the planet as well.